Veronica Mars star misses her character

Published 5:30 am, Monday, June 11, 2007

DETROIT — Kristen Bell is finding it tough to let go of Veronica Mars, the wisecracking teenage TV sleuth she portrayed for three seasons.

Asked what she would miss most about the character, Bell didn't hesitate: "Other than everything?"

"It feels sort of like graduating high school. You really only recognize how special it was once it's gone away," Bell said.

"And of course everyone graduates from different jobs then they move on, but I don't know I'll find as special a show ever again," the 26-year-old actress said. "I think I'm only truly realizing that now."

The show, which was ratings challenged but a cult hit, was canceled May 17. Bell, though, hasn't given up all hope just yet.

The network, she said, has until Friday to tell the show's producers whether it might be brought back as a midseason replacement.

Even if Veronica Mars doesn't make it back onto the small screen, Bell says she would be happy to reprise her role in a feature film.

"I'm game. I would work for (Veronica creator) Rob Thomas again in a heartbeat," she said. "Not just because of his brilliance, but because he's a great guy."

Critics loved Veronica Mars from the get-go, praising Bell's whipsmart heroine, the show's take on high-school politics and the portrayal of Veronica's relationship with her father (Enrico Colantoni).

Set in the fictional seaside town of Neptune, Calif., Bell's character tackled the ups and downs of high-school life while solving crimes. The just-completed third season shifted Veronica and her pals to nearby Hearst College. She still solved crimes and battled authority, but the ratings woes continued.

While Bell's old show doesn't have a place in the fall, her new one does.

She's providing the voice of the narrator (something she also did on Veronica) for the CW's new Gossip Girl. The show centers on a group of prep-school teenagers in Manhattan.

Meanwhile, Bell is in Hawaii filming Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a comedy produced by Judd Apatow (The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up). She plays the title character.

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The actress says she is enjoying the adult humor and improvisational nature of an Apatow production.

"It's not that cliched romantic comedy where boy meets girl," she said. "Nothing is really cliched in this movie. It's all very real."